Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN VANESSA THOUGHT WAS HER FRIEND
Vanessa stood so fast her chair hit the floor.
“Where did you get that?”
Claire looked at her.
“Daniel’s garment bag.”
Vanessa turned toward her brother.
“No.”
Daniel said nothing.
Gloria snapped:
“Sit down.”
Vanessa ignored her.
“That belongs to Rachel.”
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
“You know that?”
Vanessa’s face changed.
Too late.
She had exposed something.
Claire asked:
“How?”
Vanessa looked at the red lace.
Then at Daniel.
She had given Rachel the set six months earlier during a private bridal-shopping weekend.
Rachel was not engaged.
The purchase had been a joke after Rachel complained she had “nothing worth wearing for anyone dangerous.”
Vanessa remembered the exact brand.
The exact color.
Then she realized why Daniel had it.
“You slept with her?”
Daniel said:
“Vanessa—”
She slapped him.
Hard.
Gloria screamed:
“Enough!”
Claire almost laughed.
Minutes earlier, her own slap would have been called hysteria.
Now Vanessa’s was family shock.
Daniel grabbed his sister’s wrist.
“Stop.”
Vanessa ripped free.
“You told me she was helping us.”
Claire went still.
“Helping you with what?”
Vanessa froze.
Gloria moved instantly.
“Nothing.”
Claire picked up the forged consent.
“This?”
Silence.
Daniel’s face hardened.
Gloria looked at Claire.
“Where did you get those documents?”
“From my attorney.”
That changed the room.
Daniel’s confidence cracked.
“You hired a lawyer?”
Claire smiled faintly.
“Yes.”
Gloria reached for the papers.
Claire pulled them away.
Then Vanessa said:
“Rachel told us the old property interest could be cleaned up.”
Claire stared.
“Cleaned up.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“She said the restructuring was legal.”
“With my signature forged?”
“I didn’t know it was forged!”
Daniel looked at Vanessa with fury.
“Shut up.”
There.
That was confirmation enough.
Then Claire placed the flash drive on the table.
“No one leaves with this.”
Daniel’s eyes followed it.
Gloria asked:
“What’s on it?”
May you like
Claire looked at her husband.
“Everything Rachel thought she deleted.”
